01. Juni 2015  
Gatineau, Quebec / CAN  
Artistic Gymnastics

Ellie Black and Jackson Payne win Canadian gymnastics championships

Ellie Black, Jackson Payne (CAN)

* Ellie BLACK of Halifax edged Isabela ONYSHKO of Minnedosa, Man., to claim her third straight women’s all around senior title at the 2015 Canadian gymnastics championships. Black, ranked third after the qualification round, bounced back with a strong overall performance on the final day of the competition, placing first on beam, second on floor and uneven bars and third on vault to win the all around gold with a score of 57.950 points. Isabela ONYSHKO placed first on floor and uneven bars, second on beam and seventh on vault to win the silver medal with 57.550 points. The 2014 Canadian junior champion Rose-Kaying WOO (La Prairie, Que.), who led the field after Thursday’s qualification, came up with another strong performance to earn bronze with 55.00 points in a field of 16 finalists.
* One year after rejoining the national team following a two-year hiatus, Edmonton's Jackson PAYNE won the gold medal in the men’s senior all around event. Payne, who left the national team in 2012 to carry out a two-year mission with the Mormon Church in South Korea, recaptured the all around title he first won as a 19-year-old in 2011 with a total score of 83.500 points. Rene COURNOYER (Repentigny, Que.), won the silver medal with 81.950 points and Hugh SMITH of Halifax was a fraction of a point behind to claim the bronze with a score of 81.900.

In the men’s senior apparatus finals, veteran Kevin Lytwyn of Stoney Creek, Ont., won gold in the high bar final and silver medals on rings and vault and bronze on floor to lead the way. Other gold medal winners were Scott Morgan of Vancouver on floor, Ken Ikeda of Abbotsford, B.C. on pommel horse, Robert Stanescu of Windsor, Ont., on rings, Damien Cachia of Calgary on vault and all around champion Jackson Payne of Edmonton on parallel bars.

Results from this year’s Canadian championships will be a key factor in selecting teams for the Pan American Games this summer in Toronto and the 2015 world championships in the fall. “After the first day of competition a few guys did great and a few guys made some mistakes and I thought it was going to be easy to pick my teams but today there were some outstanding performances and it’s made my job a little tougher,” said men’s national team director Tony Smith of Calgary.

* In the women’s competition, the 1-2 finish of Black and Onyshko, confirmed their status as leading contenders for a Pan Am Games berth.
After placing eighth in the beam qualification, Black came back with the the best performance of the day in the final. Both the Canadian men’s and women’s Pan Am teams will be announced on June 4th.
In the women’s junior competition Megan Roberts of Toronto won the all around title with 55.40 points and added three more medals in the event finals, including gold on floor and vault. Jade Chrobok of Toronto won the silver with 55.250 points and Meixi Semple of Oshawa, Ont., took the bronze with a score of 52.800.
►► 2015 Canadian Ch Results

* source: Canadian Gymnastics Federation